Air Astana CEO: Carrier looks beyond Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana wants to place a stronger emphasis on long-haul flights, and believes its low-cost structure will enable profitable growth. CEO, Peter Foster stated that the airline will move from being a Kazakhstan-focused airline to becoming more of a net-work carrier and focus more on long-haul operations. Air Astana is taking advantage of the geographic location of its hubs in Almaty and Astana to increasingly focus on transfer passengers flying between Europe and China; Southeast Asia and India; Iran and China; and Russia and Southeast Asia. Over the last six years, the airline has been slowly transforming from a point-to-point operation into a network carrier.